Peninsula playwright explores parenting in the social network age

Peninsula playwright Kathy Rucker has tackled a very timely subject with her new work, "Crystal Springs," which takes place in an unspecified Middle American town.

"It's about parenting in the perilous times of the digital age," she tells The Daily News. "And it's also about trying to fit in, no matter what age you are. It's the story of two girls, two moms and their relationships."

Social networking has profoundly affected parenting. "For me, personally speaking, it's a two-edge sword. It's kind of scary. I have a 9-year-old daughter. And she uses the Internet now just as a way of getting information and games. We don't let her actually use social media, but that idea is looming right ahead of us. She's going to want it, because all her friends are going to use it.

"And that's kind of the heart of the play. The dramatic moment of the play comes when the girls want to use the social media."

Inevitably, it's an issue parents must face. "It's a question of when," Rucker says, "because I don't think you can really avoid it. For us, it will be when our daughter goes to middle school. We can't deprive her of it, but we just want to make her aware of the ramifications of it. Like when you post something on the Internet, it's there forever. And that's part of my play, too. That's the horrifying reality of the play."

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She based the play on several true stories. "At a London festival, the women playwrights were asked to write a play about hate, using six female characters. And the men were asked to write a play about love, using six male characters. And I kept seeing, in the newspaper, stories about cyber-bullying and suicides of young girls. So that's where I chose to take my story. And there have been stories in England and Ireland, Texas, in Ohio, in California, in Los Gatos, recently. So it's kind of a combination of those stories."

That evolved into the longer form of "Crystal Springs" being presented by Eureka. It's now 70 minutes, rather than the original 40-minute version. The new version will be presented in another London theater, the Park, in September. Anna Jordan, the English director of the Eureka production, will also be directing it in London.

"She had read the play and had given me notes," Rucker says. "Once she came here and started the rehearsal process, I've been there with them the whole time, finessing the dialogue with them."

The girls in the play are 16. Rucker had to make sure their speech patterns rang true. "When I started the rehearsal process, I asked the girls playing the parts if the dialogue sounded realistic. And they said yes. So I felt good about that. If it hadn't sounded authentic to them, I would have tweaked it. But they felt comfortable saying the dialogue."

The play unfolds backward in time. "I wanted to focus on how precarious the events that led to this tragedy were," she says. "It's kind of like the butterfly effect. One small thing led to another. It was a series of events that just happened. And going back in time, you're seeing it in a different perspective. You can see how interconnected each little action was. It wasn't just one person setting out to do something evil. It wasn't just one bad decision. It was just like a domino effect, a series of small interconnected events that led to this really tragic thing happening.

"I don't want to say it's a cautionary tale, because I don't want it to come across preachy. I just want people find it a heartfelt story that we can all relate to, because we're all kind of experiencing it."

The yearning for acceptance is another thematic element of the play. "When we first started the process of rehearsing with the actors, I asked everybody what they thought the play was about. And it was really interesting, because a lot of them said, 'It's about trying to fit in.' The girl's trying to fit in. The mother's trying to fit in. People are trying to fit in and connect. And that's very relatable."

Rucker finds the Eureka Theatre to be an ideal home for "Crystal Springs." "When I first started writing plays about 10 years ago, that was the theater I had the reading of my first play. So it has kind of an emotional attachment to me."

After spending so much time and effort writing and honing a script, it's very fulfilling to actually see it presented on stage.

"I just had a play done in Bristol, England," Rucker says. "It was about two prisoners. One has dementia. And in my head, one was from Oakland and one was from Central Valley. But all of a sudden, they had English accents. So that was kind of amusing. But to see your play on stage is a humbling experience. It's unbelievably exciting."

"I send my plays out everywhere and there are just so many opportunities in England. There are a lot of theaters in London that afford opportunities for playwrights who don't have agent. I don't have an agent right now. So it's easier for me to get into certain theaters in the U.K. than it would be in the U.S."

Rucker, who worked at a San Francisco film production company making commercials, has always loved theater. "About 10 years ago, I challenged myself to write a play. I did and I got some good feedback, good responses to it, so I just kept doing it."

She took a lot of online classes. "It was amazing, the quality of people that were teaching. I took several classes with Dan O'Brien, who is a wonderful playwright, who lives in Los Angeles now and taught playwrighting at Princeton and just won the PEN Award for drama last year. Taking online classes was great, because, at the time, I had a newborn. Right before I had Hannah, I was accepted to a playwright's lab, PlayGround, in San Francisco. I was part of that for a year and it was great. And I just kept writing and getting feedback and then I'd be invited to writers' conferences, in Alaska, Omaha, Tennessee. The community is very supportive. You learn from having readings, workshops. So you just learn as you go."

Rucker, who resides in Hillsborough with husband Hal, an entrepreneur, and daughter Hannah, has examined many subjects in her plays, ranging from British mathematician Alan Turing to a kidnapped statue of the Virgin Mary.

"I love the process," Rucker says. "I write at the San Mateo library. I have my favorite little nook on the second floor. I love doing the research. I love sending the plays out and then occasionally getting the acceptance emails. I love going to conferences. So I'm happy in the whole process. And when I get productions, that's just icing on the cake.

"The production now is a dream. Anna Jordan is amazing. And the six actresses I'm working with, too. It's worth spending a year sequestered on the second floor of the San Mateo library. I just want to keep doing it, going to my favorite little nook and just being inspired to follow stories, do research, write plays and meet more directors and actors. It's just so much fun."